


the jacket

by OrionRedde, Shyrstyne



Series: Cometverse [4]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Bittersweet, Gen, comet realizes that they love this boy, tfw u realize ur a parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 03:09:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18044342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrionRedde/pseuds/OrionRedde, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shyrstyne/pseuds/Shyrstyne
Summary: months after he first appears, Sora's birthday is coming up. no kid should go without a birthday, and you're determined to give him that small comfort.





	the jacket

  “Comet, when’s your birthday?” Sora asks.

  “Somewhere in late summer, early fall,” you answer, looking over to him. “When’s yours?”

  “Midsummer!” Sora chirps, bouncing his heels on the arm of the couch. “It’s in…” He takes a moment to count in his head, mouthing the numbers. “It’s in three days!”

  “Three days, huh?” You muse, leaning back on the recliner. “Dang, dude. Growing up so fast.”

  “Yeah!” Sora enthuses, face brightening. “Maybe I’ll find Riku and Kairi before then!”

  You quickly stifle a wince. It’s been months since Sora dropped into your life, and he’s only caught a  _ glimpse  _ of his friend Riku, who, by the sound of it, is acting like a little asshole. You don’t hold much hope of him getting his friends back by his birthday.

  You don’t say any of that to him, though. You pointedly check the clock.

  “Didn’t Yuffie say to meet her by the fountain right about now?” You ask. Sora whips his head to look at the clock, yelps, and scrambles off the couch.

  “See you later, Comet!” He hollers as he dashes out the door. 

  “See you!” You call after him.

  You hope Yuffie can keep him busy for a few hours. You’ve got a party to plan.

  First thing you do is corner Donald and Goofy.

  “Sora’s birthday is in three days,” you start off. 

  “So?” Donald grumps.

  “Donald!” Goofy scolds, shaking his finger in Donald’s face. “That is awful rude and mean of you!” Donald huffs and crosses his arms.

  “Anyway,” you continue, resolving to ignore the duck, “can you make sure he’s here that day? We’re gonna try to throw a party for him. I…” You sigh, slumping. “I know how it feels to have a birthday without any family to celebrate it with. You know he wants to find his friends before then, right?”

  Donald and Goofy exchange a worried glance. Well, more like Goofy is sympathetic and Donald’s reluctantly softening.

  “I know he’s going to be sad that day,” you tell them softly. “He’s going to be despondent, scared, and probably lose hope. I can’t  _ stand  _ seeing that. So  _ please  _ do me this favor, and bring him over in three days.” 

  “Oh, alright,” Donald quacks. “We’ll make sure Sora gets here.”

  “Gawrsh, Donald!” Goofy exclaims. “We need to find Sora a gift!”

  “Y’all do that,” you interrupt. “I’m gonna go talk to the others. Remember: three days, at my bar, around dinner time. Food, cake, and I  _ might  _ be convinced to share some scotch if you’re nice. Got it?”

  “Got it, Comet!” Goofy says, going so far as to salute you. 

  “Yeah, I got it,” Donald says, tapping his foot. You sniff at him and trot off. You need to tell your family, and then you’ve gotta find a gift.

 

  “Okay, Comet,” you mumble to yourself, rifling through a set of cabinets, “what does Sora like? Sora likes, uh…”

  You pause, staring blankly at a tiny vase of some sort. It’s chunky, lumpy, and covered in bright paint. Made by a child’s hands. You gently put it back.

  “Well, Sora likes… well, he likes his friends.” You pause, feeling the fabric of a throw blanket. “I… can’t give him that. Stars, I would if I could. I’d turn worlds over for that kid.” You pause. “Oh my God, I  _ am  _ adopting this kid.”

  You abandon the cabinet and head upstairs to scavenge through the bedrooms.

  “I am  _ never  _ telling Yuffie she’s right,” you mutter to yourself as you open the master bedroom closet. 

  You  _ immediately  _ hone in on the jacket. It’s a leather aviator’s jacket, with fleece lining. There’s a patch on the shoulder in the shape of a crown. It looks to be in good shape and quality, to your inexperienced eyes. You take it out, running your hands over cool leather and soft fleece. You stick your hands into the pockets. Nothing in them, but they’re deep. You don’t know if he’ll like it, but you’ve noticed that his tiny white jacket he showed up in has been looking rough. This will last a lot longer,  _ and  _ keep him warm. Also pockets.

  You nod decisively to yourself. At the very least, it’s a useful gift. Now you need to go plan a menu.

  You sniff the jacket.

  You’ll plan a menu  _ after  _ you wash this jacket.  _ Whoof.  _

 

  “Okay, okay, here he comes!” Yuffie squeals, vaulting over the counter to hide with you. “Everybody shh!”

  You slap a hand over your mouth to muffle a giggle. Yuffie rapidly taps your arm, just as excited. Squall shushes you from where he’s crouched near the dart board, behind a table. Aerith giggles as well, barely hidden by the thick curtains she’s ensconced behind. You shift on your heels eagerly when you hear the distinctive tones of Donald and Goofy.

  The door opens.

  “SURPRISE!” All of you, except for Squall, cheer and jump out of your hiding spots.

  Sora yelps, scrabbling backward, eyes wide.

  “Happy birthday, Sora!” Yuffie chirps, bouncing up to said birthday boy. She eagerly grabs his hands and tugs him to the table laden with food. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon! Let’s eat!”

  “O-okay,” Sora stutters, still startled. You give Goofy and Donald a thumbs up. Goofy gives you one back and Donald at leasts gives you a nod. You go up to Sora and ruffle his hair.

  “Happy birthday, cub,” you tell him, warmth pouring out of your heart. “You like the surprise?”

  “I… yeah,” Sora sniffles, rubbing at his eyes with his fists. “Yeah. I like the surprise.” He leans into you, burying his face into your side. You stroke his hair, ignoring the wet spots on your waist. He inhales shakily, wrapping his arms around your waist to give you a squeeze. Then he lifts his head and gives you the biggest, most genuine grin you’ve seen on him yet.

  “Thank you, Comet!” Sora beams up at you, almost blinding you with the force of his joy. He nuzzles his face into your stomach, purruping, before releasing you to bounce over to the food table. You heart  _ wibbles. _ Squall nudges your shoulder with his own.

  “You  _ sure  _ you haven’t adopted this kid?” He teases you.

  “Maybe so,” you admit quietly. “Look at him, Squall. He’s just… innocent. Fourteen years old, just lost his world, is travelling the universe to find his friends and apparently King Mickey, and he’s still innocent. I… want to preserve that. As best I can. We didn’t have that growing up, and stars above I don’t want him going what we went through.”

  Leon hums, nudging more firmly against you in support. You heave a sigh and nudge him back. You quirk a tired smile at him.

  “C’mon, let’s eat,” you say. “I think Yuffie’s this close to challenging Sora to an eating contest.”

 

  You wait until Sora is almost finished with his plate before before sneaking back to the kitchen. You carefully pull the cake from the fridge. The cake is simple chocolate with buttercream frosting. Painstakingly written in red icing is “Happy Birthday, Sora!”, with a few yellow stars and a crown. You carefully stick in a few candles and light them. You take a deep breath and carefully pick up the cake.

  “Happy birthday to you~,” you sing lowly as you walk to the table. Sora freezes and whips around to look at you. Your throat squeezes around a lump, but you swallow it down.

  “Happy birthday to you~!” Yuffie and Aerith join in. Sora’s eyes well with tears. Don’t cry, Comet. Don’t cry.

  “Happy birthday, dear Sora~!” Donald and Goofy join in. Sora whips around to look at everybody singing, looking overwhelmed.

  “Happy birthday to you~!” You finish softly, gently placing the cake in front of him. You crouch next to Sora, gently looping an arm around his skinny shoulders. He wipes at his eyes.

  “You wanna blow out the candles?” You ask him quietly. Sora, expression trembling as he holds back more tears, nods determinedly. He wipes his nose and leans forward. With a deep breath, he blows out the candles. Yuffie, Aerith, and Goofy clap, cheering. Sora laughs, a little wetly, but he laughs. He turns and throws himself at you, squeezing his arms around your shoulders and nuzzling his face into your neck. You return the hug, squeezing tightly and rubbing his back.

  “Thank you, Comet,” Sora mumbles into your shoulder.

  “You’re welcome, Sora,” you hum, turning your head and pressing a kiss into soft hair. “Now, how big do you want your slice?”

 

  Yuffie manages to wait until Sora is mostly done with his cake before leaping onto the table and shouting  **_“PRESENTS!”_ ** like a goddamn goblin. Sora perks up, fork still in his mouth. He looks at you pleadingly as Yuffie dances on the table while chanting “presents, presents, presents presents!” You raise an eyebrow at him.

  “It’s your party, cub,” you tell him with a grin. “If you wanna open presents we can open presents.”

  “Yeah!” Sora cheers, lifting his fists into the air. Yuffie immediately shoves a package into his lap. “Mine first!”

  Sora eagerly tears into the shuriken-patterned (really, Yuffie?) wrapping paper and opens the box.

  “Oh, cool!” Sora enthuses, holding up a box of jellybeans that have, literally, nearly any flavor imaginable, from cherry to ear wax. He digs into the box and brings out package after package of weird snacks. “I can’t wait to try all of these! Thank you, Yuffie!” He gets up and hugs Yuffie, who cheerfully laughs and swings him around.

  “Not a problem for my favorite cat!” Yuffie laughs, digging her knuckles into his hair before releasing him. Sora giggles happily. He climbs back into his seat.

  “Here,” Squall says gruffly, holding out his own package wrapped in simple brown paper and twine. Sora takes it and tears away the paper.

  “Oh!” Sora gasps, holding up the belt. It shimmers iridescently in the soft lighting. “Wow!”

  “It’s a shield belt,” Squall explains. “It’ll boost your defense and resistances to certain attacks.”

  “Thank you, Leon!” Sora chirps, beaming at Squall. Your brother scratches his nose and looks away, but seems pleased. Aerith comes forward and holds out her own gift, wrapped in soft pink tissue paper.

  “I hope this will be useful to you,” she says softly as Sora carefully peels away the paper. In the box is a clip in the shape of a green feather. “This charm will boost your healing spells, making them more effective and costing less mana.”

  “Thank you, Aerith!” Sora says, getting up once more to give Aerith a hug. She hugs him back, stroking his hair, before releasing him.

  “Don’t forget about us!” Donald quacks as he and Goofy hand Sora a huge, squishy bundle contained in a mesh bag. Sora opens the bag and gasps.

  “A blanket!” He yelps excitedly, shaking the blanket out. It’s patterned in bright red and deep blue and soft yellow, with a white underside. Sora takes a moment to feel how squishy it is, lifting it and feeling its weight. He gives his travelling companions a bright grin.

  “Thank you!” He laughs capturing them in a tight hug.

  “Gawrsh, t’weren’t nuthin’!” Goofy chuckles. “You look cold in the ship sometimes, so we thought it’d be nice to have a blanket for naps!”

  “I love it!” Sora enthuses, bouncing in place as he clutches his blanket. “Thank you!”

  “Awwww,” Donald deflects, looking to the side bashfully.

  “Is it my turn yet?” You finally speak up. Sora jumps and turns to you, hastily folding and putting his new blanket away in his inventory. You hand him your own gift. Yes, you got wrapping paper with shooting stars on it. Shut up. Sora carefully takes the package from you and rips away the paper. You hold your breath as he takes out the jacket, staring at it with wide eyes.

  “Now, I know it’s a little big on you,” you rush out, feeling embarrassed, “but I figured your jacket is looking a little rough and you could get cold out there and anyway you’ll probably grow into it but if you don’t like it I-  _ oof!” _

__ You wheeze and fold over Sora as he barrels into your stomach. You grip onto him, holding him as he shakes. He steps away after a moment, face wet with tears but a big grin on his face.

  “Thank you, Comet!” He tells you, and you are  _ not  _ gonna cry, stars damn you. “I love it! I’m gonna put it on right now!”

  Sora immediately shucks his no-longer-white jacket and pulls the new one on. He has to tug the sleeves back, and the bottom of the jacket definitely almost reaches to his knees, but he looks up at you with a sunny grin regardless. He zips up the jacket, almost completely engulfing his red jumpsuit, and strikes a pose. Yuffie cheers and claps.

  “Stylish!” She laughs. Sora pauses in his posing to sniff the fleece collar of the jacket. He looks up at you with wet eyes again. You tense, fearing you’ve done something wrong.

  “It smells like you,” Sora croaks.

  “I washed it before I gave it to you, cub,” you explain gently. “I make my own soap for my laundry.” Actual detergent was a rare commodity. It’s easier to make your own laundry soap.

  “Oh,” Sora sniffles, rubbing his cheek against the collar. “I like it. I like that it smells like you.”

_ Were thing, gotta be,  _ you deduce to yourself. You don’t know what  _ kind  _ of were thing, but you’ll let it be for now.

  “But you like the jacket?” You ask.

  “It’s perfect!” Sora enthuses, bouncing back from whatever was making him teary. “I can fit  _ so many rocks  _ in the pockets!”

  “You’ll have to show me next time you come by!” You laugh, ruffling his hair. “Now, I think Yuffie has some games planned for tonight. You ready to play?”

  “Yeah!” Sora cheers whipping around to point a challenging finger at your little sister. “Yuffie! Fight me!”

  “Alright, now we’re talking!” Yuffie cackles, raising a foam sword. Sora yelps and runs away, hollering that Yuffie was cheating and she should give fair warning first! You laugh as they chase each other around the bar, leaping over and under furniture and generally causing a ruckus. Donald yells at them and inevitably gets drawn into the conflict. Leon shakes his head, but his mouth quirks into a small smile. Aerith stands next to him, smiling serenely. Goofy gets himself another piece of cake. And you…

  You feel bittersweet, but content. You hope this memory will keep the shadows chasing Sora at bay, at least for a while. He deserves a bit of light to hold on to.

**Author's Note:**

> u ever think about how long kingdom hearts actually is. like... maybe a year long of gallivanting around strange worlds looking for your two friends. you ever think about that. because i did and that shit hurted.  
> also comet slowly realizing they'd do everything in their power to keep sora safe and happy, even on the sidelines, is essential. thus a big ol jacket that'll keep him warm and also hide weapo- i mean keep rocks in.


End file.
